Understanding and Resolving Program Overrun Alerts
What the Program Overrun Message Means
The Program Overrun alert is a significant message that requires immediate attention. When you receive this alert, it indicates that your scheduled irrigation programs did not complete as planned.
The full message reads: "Program overrun: program was running when a start time was hit" followed by a specific program number. This means that one irrigation program was still actively running when the scheduled start time for the next program arrived, creating an overlap or conflict between the two programs.
When this occurs, some or all of your programs may not run as scheduled, which can impact your site's irrigation coverage.
Common Causes of Program Overrun
Program overrun alerts typically occur when you've scheduled more watering time than is physically available within your constraints. This can happen in several ways:
Insufficient water window:
You may have attempted to schedule 12 hours of watering within a 10-hour water window, leaving insufficient time for all programs to complete.
Restrictive zone concurrency settings:
If you've configured the controller to run only one zone at a time, the sequential watering schedule may require more time than is available in the day.
Exceeding daily capacity:
You cannot schedule 28 hours of watering into a 24-hour day. If your total program run times exceed the available hours in a day, programs will conflict.
Adjusting Water Window Settings
The first setting to review when resolving a program overrun is your water window configuration. A water window defines the time period during which irrigation is permitted to run.
If you've set a water window that is shorter than 24 hours or includes specific time restrictions, it may be unrealistic for your site's actual watering needs. For example, if you've limited irrigation to a four-hour window but your site requires eight hours of watering, the programs simply cannot complete within the available time.
To resolve this issue, you have two options:
- Expand your water window to provide adequate time for all scheduled irrigation
- Work with your site manager to adjust watering requirements or restrictions if the water window is mandated by site policies or local regulations
Evaluate whether your current water window restrictions are realistic given your site's irrigation demands.
Adjusting Zone Concurrency Settings
The second critical setting to review is zone concurrency. Zone concurrency determines how many irrigation zones can operate simultaneously.
Your options range from running just one zone at a time to running multiple zones concurrently—5, 10, 15, or more zones depending on your system. The appropriate setting depends entirely on your site's hydraulic capacity, including water pressure and flow rate available.
If zone concurrency is set too low (for example, only one zone at a time when your system could support multiple zones), irrigation will take much longer to complete, potentially causing program overrun when the total sequential run time exceeds your available water window or daily schedule.
Increasing zone concurrency allows more zones to water simultaneously, reducing the total time required to complete all programs. However, this setting must align with your site's actual hydraulic capabilities to ensure adequate water pressure and flow to all operating zones.
Video Walkthrough
Video originally published December 2020.
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